Acts of Warfare
by Madame Rei
Summary: When Serenity and her court visit the Earth as children, they are introduced to Endymion and his court to try and make peace between their kingdoms. Both sides instantly hate each other. This means war!               Silv/Mil. Senshi in later chapters.


Beryl hated how the Prince admired _her_; hated how the Lunarians were different. It made the Princess interesting. Unique even. But Beryl could see why the Princess would feel isolated. Firstly for being a princess, kept inside her own perfect bubble. Secondly, she was from Luna; Earth's only moon and forbidden to fraternise with the people of Earth. And also, because she was a girl- and the entire Earth Court seemed to be dominated by stuck up, stubborn little boys whom Beryl secretly desired to push into a nice muddy puddle. Preferably a large, deep one. But despite this, the Lunarian Princess never seemed alone.

Beryl hated the fact that she had never had true friends. Nobody wanted her. She was a girl; therefore couldn't be 'one of the boys'. She was from Terra therefore was 'one of them'. At least when Endymion's court and Serenity's court engaged in acts of warfare. The nursemaids and governesses would claim they were playing, but Beryl knew better that to trust the judgement of a servant, especially when she had seen that Venusian with a sword almost as big as herself. That same Venusian had also used that chain to tie up said nursemaids and governesses.

The Terran Court claimed Serenity and her Senshi brought out the worst in the boys. The Lunarian Court claimed Endymion and his Shitennou provoked the girls. Despite the optimism of both monarchies that the Earth and Moon could be on 'friendly terms' by living through their children, Beryl knew it could never work.

None of them could ever be friends. It was forbidden.

Even at a young age, Beryl knew how politics worked.

Still, she liked it when they engaged in these little acts of warfare. She could just slip into the background, not with any of them, but not deliberately being left out by them.

But however much she tried to convince herself otherwise, she still felt wanted when that Lunarian grabbed her by the hand and pulled her along down the corridor- with Endymion and three of the other boys in hot pursuit. Why was she holding her hand if Lunarians and Terrans were mortal enemies? Though the Prince had said had said the Lunarian was an 'excellent judge of character'. Like a dog, Beryl supposed.

She felt an undeniable sense of warmth as she felt the Moon Princess's hand. Warmth she was sure Jadeite must have felt when the Martian had thrown fire at him. Te corner of Beryl's mouth turned up slightly and she squeezed the Lunarian's hand. The Princess turned her head a smiled.

The boys were rapidly catching up with them as they whizzed threw an endless maze of corridors; lined with heavy blue and gold curtains. She couldn't let them catch up. She didn't want them to win whatever game it was they were playing, as that probably meant a forfeit of some sort. And Beryl was in no mood to deal with smug little boys, a crying Princess, and angry senshi (especially when she was aware of two senshi with swords).

When they came to the end of the corridor, Beryl pulled the Princess to the left. Having to spend so many hours by herself, free to wander the Earth Palace had its advantages. She knew practically the entire layout, but that wouldn't help if the boys could run faster than them. And she rather suspected they could. Beryl wasn't required to run on a daily basis. And just how much running did Princesses do?

She began to run faster; her sandals making tapping noises on the polished marble. She pulled the Princess along- her own satin slippers making cushioned taps. Beryl was running so fast, she was certain her legs would fall off. How was the Lunarian managing to keep up if she had been running longer than her? Maybe Princesses did more running than she thought.

The boys' footsteps were growing increasingly louder. It didn't matter how well she knew the palace- the boys knew it better. And they were able to teleport to boot. Teleport. Now there's an idea she thought.

Beryl turned to the Princess, "I know how we can lose them, but I need you to trust me."

"I trust you." The Princess replied with a smile

Beryl took the Princess's other hand "Hold on tight," she told her "and try to visualise…" What place would the Princess know well? "Outside. In the gardens. Visualise somewhere in the gardens you know really well. Preferably not near the lake."

Realising what Beryl intended to do, Serenity shut her eyes; scrunching them up in concentration.

"Ready?" Beryl asked. The Princess nodded and tightened her grip.

Beryl also closed her eyes and allowed the energy to flow through her. Dresses rustled and hair flowed upwards, an they were surrounded by a deep purple aura.

They disappeared, leaving behind a wispy purple cloud- which the boys met as they came to the end of the corridor.

"Hey! Beryl, that's cheating!" Jadeite yelled at the cloud.

"Well," Zoisite grinned "if Beryl's doing it." The three shitennou looked at each other, then turned to the Prince.

"Bye, Endy!" Zoisite and Jadeite called as they teleported.

"We'd take you with us, but we don't want to end up in the lake again." Nephrite added before he followed the other two- leaving the Prince alone in the corridor with various streaks and lines of energy, and some slowly descending rose petals.

"Hey! Come on, you guts- you know I'm no good at that! Get back here and take me with you!"

The prince felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Just hold on tight or you'll end up in pieces."

Endymion hugged the older boy's waist. "Thank you, Kunzite."

With a flash of vertical lines, they too were gone.


End file.
